Navy To Name Submarine After Jimmy Carter

By Jamie McIntyre/CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Navy will name the third and final submarine of the Seawolf class, the "USS Jimmy Carter", after the 39th
President of the United States, CNN has learned.

Pentagon sources tell CNN the decision to name the submarine for President Carter will be announced by Navy Secretary John Dalton at the Pentagon Wednesday.

Carter was a 1946 graduate of the U.S. Navy Academy, served as an officer aboard submarines, and was the only president to "qualify" as a submariner.

The Seawolf class of submarines is the newest, fastest submarine in the U.S. fleet. Originally the Navy planned to build 32 of the Seawolf attack submarines, but the reduced threat brought about by the end of the cold war, reduced the need to three.

The Navy is now building a new, cheaper attack submarine.

Sources say Navy Secretary John Dalton will host President and Mrs. Carter at a Pentagon naming ceremony Monday April 27, 1998.

No previous U.S. Navy ships have been named Carter.

Carter served one term as president, and commander-in-chief of the military, from 1977-1981.